


Pick up the Pieces

by SilverLiningShadows



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Gaara and Kankuro die, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-04-06 04:22:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4207755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverLiningShadows/pseuds/SilverLiningShadows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Shikamaru,” she whispers. “Where are my brothers?” Her voice is almost nonexistent because she thinks if she says it any louder the reality of it will sink in.<br/>"Temari,” he breathes. “Your brothers are dead.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pick up the Pieces

Temari awakes to the burn of fire in her chest and the scent of it in her hair.   
She groans and turns her stiff neck to look out the window. The sight she is greeted with is a lush, green landscape. There's no way she's in Suna.   
Konoha.   
She doesn't remember why--or how--she's here, but she pushes herself off the tousled bed and places her feet on the warm ground, because damn it, she's Sabaku No Temari and she'd rather go to hell than be kept in the dark.   
Wait, this isn't the hospital.   
The abundance of personal items--though there aren't a lot--makes that perfectly obvious. The room doesn't have the pale neatness of the hospital, and it lacks the sounds that usually accompany such a place.   
Then where is she?  
One of her hands clutches her stomach, the source of the fiery feeling, as she hobbles towards the door. Her hand pushes on the door to find it’s already moving. Backing up, she gets a good look at the intruder.  
It’s Shikamaru.  
Oh, so it’s probably his house. But why is she here? “Oi, crybaby,” she smiles. Her stomach flares and she lets out a soft hiss.   
He smirks a bit. “tch, troublesome.” She opens her mouth to respond but he pushes her gently back towards the bed and makes her sit on the edge. He seats himself next to her.  
“You’ve probably already figured this out, but you’re in my house. Lift up your shirt. Tsunade wanted to--”  
“Nara,” she threatens, “what did you just say?”  
He lets out a sigh before pointing to her stomach. “Temari, you’re wounded. I need to change your bandages.”  
The reminder of the pain makes it flare. Pulling up the edge of her shirt, she reveals the edge of a swath of bandages. Blood is soaking through and she notices it has begun to spot her shirt.  
Wait, this isn’t her shirt. It resembles Nara’s though…  
“Explain.” Temari demands.  
A slight pink tinge appears on his cheeks as he begins to unwrap her bandages. “It was Sakura, not me. I figured you didn’t want to be in bloody clothes. Tsunade would have prefered to put you in the hospital, but I figured you wouldn’t want to be in there. Not with all the noise and zero-vacancy.” He’s finished unwrapping the wound and she can see it’s an ugly, crude thing. Whoever did it wasn’t trying to make a clean job of killing her.  
He begins to wrap clean bandages around her wound and she can feel the warmth radiating from his hand. It calms her a bit, but her head feels fuzzy and she can’t quite remember what events lead to her being here. “Wait, why is the hospital so full?” She probably sounds like an idiot, but her body feels so tired and she just wants to know what’s going on.  
Shikamaru looks at her with worried eyes, then quickly changes his expression--probably because men can’t show weakness or some crap like that. He stops wrapping. “Don’t you remember?” No, she obviously doesn’t. “Suna was attacked. We brought the survivors--” Her eyes widen because she should remember something like that. She should. She should.  
When she closes her eyes and tries to make her head stop throbbing she sees it, smells it. Blood. It’s everywhere. It’s on her torso, where a kunai has been thrust. It’s on the ground, where the fallen sand nin lay.   
It’s on her brothers.  
So she starts shaking and clutches her head, hoping she’s hallucinating--though it isn’t a preferable thought it’s better than what’s going through her head--hoping the images will stop. She feels him tie off the bandage hurriedly, but it’s like he’s a thousand miles away. Hands come up to grip her arms..   
“Temari,” he says franticly. “Temari, snap out of it. And when she opens her eyes, he’s standing in front of her with a distraught look on his face.  
“Shikamaru,” she whispers. “Where are my brothers?” Her voice is almost nonexistent because she thinks if she says it any louder the reality of it will sink in.  
"Temari,” he breathes. “Your brothers are dead.”  
She breaks.  
"No, no, no," she looks into his eyes, hoping he's kidding, that there's a look of mischief in his expression. There isn't one. Why isn't there one? He can't be right. He must be wrong.   
"No, no, no," she continues, spiking each no with a punch to his chest. They’re her little brothers, she’s supposed to look after them. "No, no, no, no!" Her punches escalate to match her ever-growing violent screams. "No!"  
She ends her tirade with her fist above his heart, tears building in her eyes. But she won't cry. She refuses to cry. She's a No Sabaku, and they've ruled the Hidden Sand for two generations. They're strong. They don't cry.  
She won't cry.   
She won't cry, even though there's no point now. Even though she's the last one.   
She can’t cry.  
So she screams.  
Temari screams into the air, and when he pulls her into his arms she screams into his chest. Melting into him, she wishes that life was this warm and secure.  
She shatters.  
Shikamaru holds her as she cries. She’s sobbing and she can’t stop. Her family is all gone and they’ve left her alone in the dark, cruel world.  
“It’s okay,” he mumbles into her hair. “Let it out.”  
“I’ll pick up the pieces.”

**Author's Note:**

> Just a note that Nara Shikaku (Shikamaru's dad) once said something like Shikamaru said at the end.


End file.
